Montana Educational Broadcasting Commission

In May 1954 the Superintendent of Public Instruction sponsored a Citizens Conference on Educational Television to study the possibilities for educational television in the state. As a result of a Ford Foundation grant in the early 1960s, the Montana Educational Television Committee conducted a major study of educational television resulting in the publication of TV for Montana Education. The 1971 Legislative Assembly mandated that the Superintendent of Public Instruction coordinate efforts to set up an educational television system and appoint an advisory committee, but it provided no funds. Three years later the legislature established the Educational Broadcasting Commission to supercede the previous advisory committee. This commission expired in 1977. From 1972 through 1974 Montana cooperated in two programs of the Federation of Rocky Mountain States: the Educational Technology Demonstration and the Satellite Technology Demonstration. For many years Administrative Assistant Barbara Longmaid coordinated the educational television activities of the superintendent's office.